Ultimate X-Men is a superhero comic book series, which was published by Marvel Comics, from 2001 to 2009. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running X-Men comic book franchise as part of the Ultimate Marvel imprint. The Ultimate X-Men exist alongside other revamped Marvel characters in Ultimate Marvel titles including Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four and The Ultimates.
The protagonists are the X-Men, a group of teen-aged mutants: a subspecies of the human race, who possess latent super-human abilities from birth, due to the presence of the mysterious "X-Gene" within their genetic codes. It sets them apart from the rest of humanity and despite being feared and distrusted by the general public and authorities, they use their super-powers to prevent and stop unnatural threats to both the human and mutant race, while being mentored by Professor Charles Xavier, the X-Men's founder and a world-renowned expert on genetics and the world's most powerful telepath. The series features many characters and storylines similar to those of the original X-Men series. Ultimate X-Men almost completely ignores supernatural or mystical elements as plot devices, and the X-Men have no secret identities, and mutants are distrusted and hunted down.
The series began in 2001 under writer Mark Millar and artists Adam Kubert and Andy Kubert, while the final issues of the series were written by Aron Coleite and penciled by Mark Brooks. Ultimate X-Men was met with considerable commercial success, even outselling most of the other X-Men comic titles and received a generally positive response from critics and readers, who praised the art-work by various artists, the writing runs of Millar, Bendis, Vaughan, Kirkman and Coleite, the character development and progression of the titular superheroes throughout the series and the unique and interesting twists on conventional X-Men themes and concepts, along with the fresh and distinctively modernized re-imagining of the classic X-Men mythos, while the uneven quality of the writing, the somewhat edgy and unnecessarily adult-oriented tone and direction of the comics and some of the changes and deviations from the original X-Men comics were singled out for criticism.
A quasi-sequel/spinoff titled Ultimate Comics: X began in February 2010, but only lasted for 5 issues. The series focused on Wolverine's secret son Jimmy Hudson, Jean Grey, and several other mutants dealing with the aftermath of Ultimatum.
Ultimate X-Men was later relaunched by Nick Spencer and Paco Medina, with the title now called Ultimate Comics: X-Men.
Publishing history
Upon its debut in February 2001, Ultimate X-Men was the second comic of the Ultimate Marvel line, preceded a few months by its sister title Ultimate Spider-Man. The heads of the Ultimate Universe line, Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada, originally tried to hire Brian Michael Bendis to write the title, but he declined. Marvel hired Scottish writer Mark Millar, who was best known at the time for his run on The Authority and was largely ignorant of the X-Men franchise. With the 2000 X-Men film as his only reference, Millar reinvented the X-Men. As a result, Millar's original X-Men consisted of telepath Professor X, Cyclops, whose eyes shoot concussive beams, telepathic and telekinetic Jean Grey, weather-manipulating Storm, simian genius Beast, metal-skinned Colossus, and cryokinetic Iceman. Millar's roster soon expanded to include teleporting Nightcrawler, intangible Kitty Pryde and power absorbing Rogue.
Common to the Millar period was an edgy tone, featuring quick action-driven plots and less moral X-Men. For instance, Wolverine tries to kill Cyclops in "Return of the King" because he is envious of Jean's love. In an interview with Sequential Tart, Millar commented, "You're not competing with Cartoon Network on these books; you're competing with 'Buffy'...Superhero comics aren't adult, but they shouldn't be written for five-year-olds either." Millar shaped Ultimate X-Men into a commercial hit, consistently outselling its sister titles, X-Treme X-Men and Uncanny X-Men.
After Mark Millar's run, Ultimate Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis took over for a year. Bendis stated that his run on the book would be more character-driven, especially concerning Wolverine, who had previously tried to kill his teammate Cyclops.Untitled Document Bendis' run was marked by the introductions of Angel and Dazzler to the team, relative absence of major villains, and the apparent death of Beast in a Sentinel attack. As a side note, Ultimate X-Men #40 features what Marvel claims to be the first marriage proposal in a comic book letters column, which is answered in Ultimate X-Men #44 with a positive response.
The third Ultimate X-Men writer was Brian K. Vaughan, best known at the time for his work on Y: The Last Man, and, subsequently, Saga. His run was marked by the relative absence of Wolverine as the main character and the re-imagining of second-string X-Men characters. He introduced Mr. Sinister as a mutant-killing scientist with hypnosis and stealth powers in "The Tempest" (#46–49), German twins Fenris as mutant corporate criminals in "Cry Wolf" (#50–53), as well as Mojo and Longshot as a corrupt TV producer and a mutant felon, respectively in "The Most Dangerous Game" (#54–57). Both are of non-alien origin in this world and have the civilian names Arthur Centino and Mojo Adams, a play on the names of their creators, writer Ann Nocenti and artist Art Adams. Further arcs were centered on Professor X (#58) and Deathstrike in "Shock and Awe" (#59–60). Lady Deathstrike possesses adamantium claws and regenerative powers. Vaughan also reintroduced Magneto,"Magnetic North" (Ultimate X-Men #61–65) and established Colossus to be homosexual.
On working within the Ultimate Universe, Vaughan wrote: "In my mind, the X-Men shouldn't be teachers or celebrities or even traditional superheroes. They're students, confused, sometimes reckless teenagers who are feared and hated because their bodies are undergoing frightening changes... The Ultimate Universe restores that small but crucial element."
Vaughan's run was followed by Robert Kirkman, author of The Walking Dead and Invincible comic books. Kirkman's run was noted for adapting several major storyarcs from the regular X-Men series. These included Jean Grey's transformation into Phoenix and the introduction of Cable, Bishop, and Apocalypse. Kirkman reintroduced Wolverine as an important character, and played with issues of team loyalty. Under his authorship, major characters such as Nightcrawler and Colossus left the team. His tenure also featured Cyclops' decision to turn Xavier's into a more traditional school and consequently disband the X-Men. When this was done an alternate team of X-Men was formed by Bishop as part of the upcoming fight against Apocalypse. After the Ultimatum storyline, nearly all of the X-Men were killed, and the team disbanded.
After the events in Ultimatum the book, along with Ultimate Fantastic Four, was canceled after its 100th issue. A follow-up one-shot, called Requiem, was released and concluded the series' story. A new series, Ultimate Comics: X, debuted in early 2010 and featured Kitty Pryde, Wolverine's son Jimmy Hudson, and Jean Grey.
Ultimate X-Men was then relaunched as Ultimate Comics: X-Men with writer Nick Spencer and artist Paco Medina. The series stars Jimmy Hudson, Kitty Pryde, Johnny Storm, Iceman, and Rogue."Marvel Announces Jonathan Hickman on Ultimate Comics: Ultimates in August!" , Hypergeek, May 2, 2011Manning, Shaun. "Marvel's '-Men'" , Comic Book Resources, May 3, 2011
Commercial success Ultimate X-Men quickly established itself as a hit comic, lauded by critics and popular with the fans. The following table shows the development of comic sales in comparison to the mainstream titles."ICv2's Top 300 Comics & Top 300 GN's Index" , ICv2, November 18, 2008
Date Ultimate X-Men Uncanny X-Men New X-Men X-Treme X-MenMarch 200197,98596,271n/an/aNovember 2001100,688125,044 (400th issue)116,78284,326March 200296,15095,386104,13872,892November 200289,39083,58197,02355,043March 200386,79583,62692,61858,322November 2003105,73790,764102,59161,574March 200497,00286,431117,25353,207November 200492,13392,051(ended)(ended)March 200583,83586,365(ended)(ended)November 200574,26482,825(ended)(ended)March 200672,76579,789(ended)(ended)
Characters
X-Men Professor Charles Xavier, telepath and telekinetic, is the founder and patron of the X-Men. He is an idealist and a pacifist, but less saintly than his mainstream counterpart. The Professor possesses vast knowledge and acquires advanced surgical skills he gleans from reading surgeons' minds (The Tomorrow People). He is the ex-husband of Moira MacTaggert with whom he worked to help mutants, devising new therapies and surgical techniques for their unique patients, and had a son named David. He suffered a spinal injury at the hands of his old friend, Magneto during an escape from his increasingly militaristic island society, the Savage Land, an injury that left him a paraplegic and ultimately a wheelchair user. He has a business relationship with the mysterious Lilandra, the majestrix of the pagan Shi'ar cult. After Jean Grey is kidnapped by the time-traveling Cable, Professor Xavier reveals to Cyclops that he is in love with her. Professor X is seemingly killed when he dives to protect Cyclops from a bomb that Cable detonates. It is subsequently revealed that he did not die, but was transported to Cable's future. He is however murdered by Magneto during the Ultimatum miniseries. Angel, Warren Worthington III, is a handsome, shy, and winged mutant. He is Dazzler's boyfriend before she is put into a coma. He has been "expelled" from the X-Men; in reality, he is spying for Xavier. Without Bishop's consent, Dazzler has recruited him to be a part of the new X-Men. Angel is later killed by Sinister as part of Apocalypse's resurrection, but is restored to life by the Phoenix. He is later killed again by Sabretooth during the Ultimatum storyline. Beast, simian mutant and genius Henry "Hank" McCoy, is turned into a blue, furry beast by the Weapon X project. He serves as the team's elite engineer, upgrading the Blackbird and Danger Room sequences. When chatting online to the Blob (pretending to be an interested girl), he accidentally reveals Magneto survived Xavier's earlier attack. He has a troubled romance with Storm, until he is killed in a Sentinel attack. It is later revealed that Hank survived and had been secretly working for S.H.I.E.L.D. on the Legacy Virus, until he escapes to return to the X-Men and Storm. Beast eventually dies in the Ultimatum wave. Colossus, Piotr "Peter" Rasputin, can turn into organic steel and reluctantly works as an arms smuggler before joining the X-Men. Colossus can transmute his entire body into organic steel, which gives him invulnerability and superhuman strength. Cyclops, Scott Summers, whose eyes emit concussive blasts, is the boy scout-like X-Men field leader. Initially shy and aloof, he learns to be an unrivaled leader and pursue his interests, notably the love of Jean Grey, an interest that has often puts him at odds with his teammate Wolverine. He revisits his dead parents in a dream world he calls "Corsair". After the "death" of Xavier, Cyclops disbands the X-Men to utilize the school as a safe haven and educational center for mutants. He is assassinated by Quicksilver at the end of the Ultimatum event.